Author Archives: HISD Communications

Students’ STAAR success = one shaved head for YMCPA teacher

Adrian Acosta

Adrian Acosta has been challenging his biology classes at Young Men’s Preparatory Academy for years with a singular offer: if 25 percent or more of them earn “commended” status on the annual state-mandated assessment test, he will shave his head.

Until now, he has never had to make good on that promise, but on May 29, Acosta closed his eyes, sat in a chair, and handed the clippers to a student, after learning that 14 of his students—or a whopping 41 percent of his biology class—had held up their end of the bargain.

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Helms ES fourth-grader earns perfect math score on STAAR exam

Natalie Nichols

Natalie Nichols has seen a lot of tragedy in her short life. Given up for adoption by her dying mother when she was just four years old, she lost both her mother and her younger sister in Guatemala before being adopted by a couple from the U.S.

Assimilating to life in a foreign country is a formidable task on its own, but that hasn’t stopped the plucky Helms Elementary fourth-grader from taking on additional challenges. Natalie wants to excel academically as well—and now, she has done so—earning a perfect score on the math portion of the recent STAAR exam.

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Video showcases progress on design for new Relief Elementary

HISD released a new video that shows staff, parents, and architects working together to plan the design of a new elementary school in the west Houston area that will be built to relieve crowding.

The school, known as Relief Elementary until it gets an official name, will be located on a 10-acre site on Old Farm Road near the Buffalo Bayou, less than a few blocks north of Westheimer Road between Hillcroft Street and Fondren Road. The school will be immersed in nature on a woody site that offers views of the bayou and allows learning areas such as science and art rooms to easily open to the outdoors.

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Pomp and circumstance for Class of 2014: 48 hours, 40 HISD graduations

Houston ISD’s Class of 2014 is big – the graduates attend a total of 42 high schools. In less than 48 hours between Friday and Sunday, the district held 40 graduation ceremonies.

Team HISD made sure that each ceremony was special for the graduates and their families. The district used 10 facilities across the city, including Reliant Arena, Reliant Stadium, and the George R. Brown Convention Center, to accommodate all of the celebrations.

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EMERGE students head east to tour historic colleges

Ninety-four Houston ISD juniors and seniors are touring nine historic college campuses this week, from June 1 through June 5, as part of the district’s EMERGE program for high-performing, low-income students.

Students from 15 high schools, who departed Houston early Sunday morning, are attending panel discussions, information sessions and workshops at:
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2013-2014 annual Board of Education student awards

Each year the Board of Education recognizes distinguished seniors from HISD high schools in recognition of their total accomplishments exemplified by their character, academic achievement, leadership, and service. Selection is made by a school committee appointed by the principal and the award is presented by the board trustee during commencement exercises. An outstanding young man and young woman are selected as well as up to five honorable mention students from each high school. This year’s recipients are:
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HISD students win $1.6M in Jones Scholarships from Houston Endowment

The late philanthropists Jesse H. Jones and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones, were stalwart believers in the power of education to improve people’s quality of life. It’s one of the reasons they founded the Jones Scholars program through the Houston Endowment in 1958, and since its inception, that organization has provided more than $94 million to young men and women to help them pay for college.

More than 300 members of the Class of 2014 received $16,000 scholarships through the program this year, and almost a third of those were from HISD schools.

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Milby HS educator named HISD’s 2014 Librarian of the Year

HISD’s 2014 Librarian of the Year Rowena Verdin (center) with Principal Roy de la Garza (left) and School Support Officer Justin Fuentes

Rowena Verdin has been finding innovative ways to do her job since practically the minute she stepped onto the Milby High School campus. After only a year of fielding requests for copies of old yearbooks from dozens of alumni, she launched an effort to digitize them for easier access. And to entice students to read more, she set up her own version of the Red Box movie-rental kiosk in a display window, adorning popular books with bright red covers that say, “Have you ‘red’ any good books lately?”

It is these efforts and more that have earned Verdin the title of HISD’s Librarian of the Year for 2014.
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Waltrip HS shares love of robotics with Garden Oaks ES

Garden Oaks Elementary students recently had a hands-on chance to learn more about science, technology, engineering and math thanks to help from Waltrip High School.

The theme of the May 22 STEM Night was “Around the World with STEM.” Students were given passports to visit four different areas. “Roboville” was one of the most popular “countries.”
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